A whole
by Anna Black Andrack Bradbury
Summary: No one had ever been so in sync like them, no one had ever understood them as much as they had, no one had ever been what the other wasn't and at the same time was: the other side of the coin, the other part of the essence. And no one but him knew them so much. (Goku/Marron/Bra)


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 **A whole**

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For a moment he could not help but stop looking at his companion and move his onyxes to the sky that was lately crowded with gray and tasteless clouds. However, he knew that at some point these would leave and let him see the bright colors that gave him so much tranquility again.

"I like to be with her," he declared with a boyish smile, not knowing that such an innocent and sincere phrase like this could unleash the most devastating and corrosive fury of one of the most powerful warriors of the twelve universes.

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" _I like you..."_ he remembered those words so soft and shy, and then _she_ had said something else, but he had not gotten to hear it.

The Solar Flare was a technique for blinding and disorienting opponents momentarily when in battle. It was very effective if you wanted to gain some time to be able to attack. It was like having the sun a short distance from your eyes or like receiving a stone in your face. Looking at the sun directly was impossible unless someone wanted to ruin their eyes and go blind forever. However, the true alpha star was something else, it was part of nature, part of what made it wonderful, and what gave shine and life to all existence on Earth.

To the Saiyan had always liked to enjoy the breeze of nature: to be calm once he trained very hard and lie on the grass or on the trunk of a tree, although the latter had always cost him a good blow on the ground, so he did not do it anymore.

While he lay down to rest and look at the sky after training, the sun was something that caught his attention, so many times he had tried to look at it directly. Yes, it was a complete stupidity as anyone would say, but the point was that the star was so bright that for him was impossible to stare at it, and, of course, it made his eyes ache as he did so.

It hurts.

Now it was as if someone was making the Solar Flare all the time, and it was as if he was asking that someone to do it forever. Goku did not understand why he was doing what he was doing, he was disoriented, confused, but he could not stop doing it. Trying to look at the Sun was like a frustrated desire, even if he could only see it very rarely in the sky, among gray clouds that barely let him see the big star.

Another curious thing was that when he relaxed and stared the Sun like a masochist, certain memories of the young woman show up, and then... after almost tearing his eyes he concentrated on the deep blue of the sky —at least in some bits that the clouds allowed him to contemplate. Watching it was like a pause, like a small interval to keep trying to lay the onyx on the glowing star. And he calmed down, not only did the pain in his eyes soothe him, but in his soul.

"You liked me too," he said with a smile.

Now he could say it with all certainty.

And once again, while a soft breeze flooded the place, he was lost in the blue. Goku thought it was better to stop thinking about doing the foolish thing of trying to look at the sun directly, because even for him to do that was absurd.

Maybe now he should just concentrate on looking at the peaceful blue sky that almost always went hand in hand with the sun...

no matter how many times the clouds covered them.

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"She is very brave, much more than she is aware. She has enough courage to not fear the heart, even if she gets hurt, she can learn from her ailments," she said.

The female stared at him. The Saiyan only watched her without saying a single word. The male's onyx lanterns had a strange expression, very difficult to decipher. She had never seen him that way, in such a distant and different way.

That scared her. That scared her more than she already was.

"I've never told her, but I always admired her a lot," she continued, "that's why I know that she had the courage to be with you even though, in some way, she was hurting herself, because while hurting herself she also felt happy.

He paused. She expected the Saiyan to say something: to show a different reaction than that undaunted mien, but she felt frustrated, downcast and angry to see that he continued the same way, just as before she began to speak, just as when she appeared before him coming at full speed while flying, and maybe just as when he probably felt her altered ki close to the forest where both of them now lay.

She had never seen him like this before. When had that man become so cold? It was hard to believe. Could not he understand the desperation that had overtaken her? Her heart was cold with despair. She felt revolted inside, totally confused, worried and on the verge of collapse. She could no longer sustain the scant posture that she showed. She was asking for one of her most valuable persons she had. Why was everyone hiding what was happening?! What was happening?!

"Dammit! Tell me the truth!" she shouted. "She is always close to you, I know she has become close. Is she still mad at me? I have already apologized many times!"

Rage, fear, frustration and despair had infested every cell of the female.

"I can't tell you," he finally said.

This time, the Saiyan's expression showed a hint of affliction, as if he could barely stand to see her so broken... she who always showed herself haughty and arrogant, she who was imperious like a tornado devastating.

She lost her temper.

"Why?!" she shouted.

She could not understand, she could not understand absolutely anything that was happening. Why was everyone hiding it? And whatever it was, she really believed that the Saiyan who was in front of her could tell her, she thought that he would be able to face her and spit out the truth, no matter how bad or painful it was. She really believed it, because for her he was the most transparent being that ever existed.

"You have to find out the truth by yourself," he said.

She fell to her knees defeated, broken, disappointed, furious. She felt as if all hope had been taken from her. He had been all she had to unravel the truth.

And he had failed her.

"I'm really sorry, but nobody can tell you, if that was the case..."

The words remained in the air or maybe at that moment she had turned off all her senses. She did not want to continue listening to more of the same. she just could not take it anymore with all that situation.

 _Together forever_

And suddenly, an afflicted and heartrending cry came from her depths. She put both hands over her head, and her eyes widened at the same time that her pupils were reduced like a pinheads. Her temples began to throb, her surroundings began to spin like a unbridled waterspout. The true panic invaded her. She did not know what was happening to her, but suddenly she seemed to enter a state of insane catatonia. She was paralyzed from every muscle in her body, but her hands and lips were shaking. Her face was pale and her forehead was pearled with a cold sweat. She was in a way that was almost impossible to recognize for anyone who knew her.

She really was not her.

Seriously... something had broken out inside her.

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He was excited, amazed, he could not deny it. That battle was by far one of the best he had had in long time. And it was precisely he, the prince of the Saiyans, who was granting him. In fact, Goku did not expect less from him, since Vegeta always trained to surpass himself, and of course, to overcome him.

There was only one problem and that was that they were on Earth, so, in a way, both had to hold back a bit as to the amount of energy they emited to fight, but Vegeta did not seem to be holding back, at least not too. Would not it be better to teleport to a more endurable planet? Surely, but the prince did not stop giving numerous blows, and it was not as if Goku had not told him: first he suggested it, and as he increased the power of his blows, he told him that if he wanted to continue fighting that level definitely they had to go to another space more suitable for that type of fight.

But no.

Vegeta only hit him and growled in anger, blinded by an inexplicable fury. Goku did not confronted his rival that way since the prince was under Babidi's control, and when he understood that, he knew that he had done something to infuriate Vegeta in that way.

"Vegeta, what's going on?" Goku asked, dodging the blows Vegeta was giving him.

But the prince responded with another bestial growl. He really was very angry. And Goku did not understand the why.

"Vegeta, hold up your energy. You'll destroy the Earth if you keep increasing your power in that sudden and excessive way!" He warned.

He could not stop himself, he had a deep desire to kill him. Even being him, even being who the prince knew, even being Kakaroto, Vegeta could not forgive him. Not! He could not forgive him especially because he was Kakaroto!

Vegeta had always thought that the irritating innocence that damn asshole possessed was a problem. He hated him for that! For that reason and because Kakarotto always overcome him somehow. However, this time it was not the case, this time it had gone too far, Kakarotto's confession could not be taken in a "normal" way. How the heck did he expect Vegeta to react to what he had told him?! That was the damned problem! That fucking idiot did not think about what he said, he thought that everything could be taken lightly, he thought that everything was too simple.

But it was not like that.

And this time the prince was not going to forgive him.

"Veg..."

And he was breathless. Vegeta had managed to deliver a tremendous punch to Goku's stomach that caused his lungs to compress in an extremely painful way.

It was enough for Goku to fall on the ground, or almost, almost because Vegeta did not allow him to make impact. No. He would not leave him that easy, he arrived earlier and gave him another terrible blow with his right knee to the back of the fallen Saiyan, which made Goku cry out painfully while spitting blood from his bowels. Few times in his life, even fighting against the most powerful enemies, he had felt such a pain, with so much anger.

"I swear I long to kill you right here!" the prince bellowed.

Goku lay on the floor with multiple lacerations. His body was so damaged that he could not move a single muscle, and in fact he could barely speak.

"It's g-great V-Vegeta... You've become very... st-trong... " he whispered with a weak smile.

"Listen to me, damn bug, Bulma and I can take care of Bra. We don't need your pathetic help."

Something was not right. Goku understood that he had made Vegeta angry, but he did not understand in what why.

"V-Vegeta, I I-just..."

"Shut up!" he kicked Goku.

A ki approached, not one, but two, but Vegeta paid attention only to one.

And when she arrived she looked at the scene completely horrified.

"Vegeta!" Bulma exclaimed, stunned by the condition of her best friend. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Dad!" Gohan shouted who was the one who, feeling his father's ki and Vegeta's getting out of control, alerted Bulma and asked her to come with him, as she was the only one capable of stopping Vegeta.

"If you approach her again, I'll kill you," he threatened Goku.

Vegeta kicked him again, and Goku gave a last cry of pain before fainting.

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After the number one hundred he had been lost. Numbers were not his cup of tea, but they were not a real problem. After the number one hundred he went back to zero and started again. He thought it was easier that way than keep counting until number one thousand. And just now he had counted thirteen times a hundred.

"One, two, three," he went back to start counting from zero while he felt that little and familiar ki approached him, "four, five, six..."

And she stayed near the Saiyan with a small smile without saying anything. She knew perfectly well that he liked to count the push ups from one to a hundred and start over, and apparently, he had already started again.

She did not want to interrupt him. When he wanted to, he would stop doing his morning exercises. Anyway, for Marron was very nice to watch him do his things. She always did it, whenever she could see him, or that she had free time, she sees him without fail. Just enjoying his company. Yes, a forced one, maybe. Maybe Marron was being annoying, selfish when she went to see him, but Mr. Goku had never complained about her. Of course at first she realized that for the Saiyan it was strange to see her always there. However, over time, the man may have become accustomed to her presence.

Many times Marron just watched him train as much time as she could in the forest, other times she would talk to him and he would respond and smile at her, and when that happened, oh, at that moment ... she lost her speech. She was dying of shame because Mr. Goku looked at her as if she were a weirdo, or at least at first, then she finally managed to control her diction and keep a pleasant conversation with him the times that the occasion was given.

Yes, Marron was happy just like this.

But that day, maybe, just maybe, she would get a little more.

"You're strange," the Saiyan said suddenly, taking the young woman out of her elucubrations.

She blushed.

"St-trange...?" she babbled.

Marron did not realize that Mr. Goku had stopped doing the push ups and had approached her. He had a look of intrigue and confusion in his eyes, as if he was analyzing some new species of animal he had never seen. Marron felt uncomfortable and embarrassed, but she also felt amused when she saw the Saiyan's gesture of having his right hand on his chin like a child trying to decipher a great mystery.

He looked adorable for her.

"You're being pink," he said intrigued.

"Hey? W-Well... I like pink and I always wear clothes of that color,"she said.

Goku shook his head.

"It's not what I meant."

She blinked confused.

"So?" She wanted to know.

He did not know how to explain it to her, not even he understood it well.

The Saiyan's mien became serious, but comic at the same time, he was trying to scrutinize that unusual aura that saw in Marron.

Or maybe it was not that unusual? The thing was that this time he felt her aura more intense than ever.

"Umh... Do you know what day it's today?" she wanted to cut with the tension she felt.

And once she had asked him that, Goku had already forgotten about Marron's pink aura. Now he was searching in his mind for something that would help him respond to the young woman.

He finished with a resigned laugh, but jocular.

"I have no idea," he declared with a smile and his right hand behind his nape, a very usual gesture in the Son, but Marron always thought that only he looked really charming like that.

She could not help reddening again.

"It's my birthday..." she revealed in a very low voice.

Goku blinked.

"Really? Well happy birthday!" He said smilingly.

Marron lowered her head, embarrassed, but happy to hear those words from him.

"Thank you... " she muttered.

"And how old are you?" he asked.

"Twenty-one," she said with a smile.

"Oh! How you've grown! But tell me, you shouldn't be celebrating?"

"Hey? W-Well, yes, Bra said she had organized a party for me. I don't like flashy things, but she was so excited about the idea that I could not refuse," she said in response.

Goku laughed again.

Marron felt nervous as always when she was close to the Saiyan, but undoubtedly, just being like that, she could swear that neither paradise was better than the moments she spent with him.

"I don't know her so much, but if she's Bulma's daughter, I understand what you mean."

"Bra is amazing, she is my best friend in the whole universe," she said with sincerity and deep affection.

"I think Krillin once mentioned that you were always together."

"Yes," she said with a big smile. We are practically inseparable. Actually, it's weird that we're not together all the time."

"Really?" He looked at her in amazement.

Marron laughed amused.

"If you saw us, you would realize what I mean. We can hardly be without the other."

"So, why are you here?"

Marron's heart seemed to stop suddenly. That question had taken her by surprise.

Goku seemed intrigued again.

"W-Well..." she babbled.

She lowered her chin with her scarlet face and pressed her hands on the fabric of her pink dress as if she was gathering the courage to speak, to tell him how she felt about him.

She looked like a child, and not the adult she already was.

" _I like you..."_ she whispered with deep shyness, "a lot..." she continued, her latter words almost without a voice. She was really nervous.

And there it was again. It was what Goku could not describe, only to feel in Marron: it was an intense aura, but soft and warm at the same time, so powerful that Goku could swear to see it by his eyes. It was not a powerful ki, but something beyond. Did Marron have some kind of unknown power so far? That would be great, but she was an Earthling, and according to Krillin, she had never had any kind of training.

The only thing he could exactly say is that the aura he mysteriously saw in Marron was pink.

On the other hand, now there were the words she had told him. When Chichi was alive, she told him that he should be very careful with his words, because there were ways to say them and right times to say them so as not to hurt anyone, and she had also told him that if someone complied and Goku was not able to return it , the best choice was to move on to another subject with subtlety. Of course Goku did not know how to do that and he did not know how to distinguish well the compliments. He was simply him. However, that was not the case. Goku did like Marron, but he could not tell her that he liked her, too, because for some reason he felt that the young woman's words had another meaning that he could not understand or correspond to.

He felt a slight tingling in his stomach.

He raise an eyebrow, a somewhat disconcerted.

"I think I'm already hungry," he said laughingly. "I'll go find something to eat."

Before he was about to leave, Marron stopped him by grabbing him by one arm. Her face ended up even more red by her action manifested in a sweeping impulse.

He blinked. Marron had never reacted like that.

She did not want him to leave. She did not want him to get away from her.

"Uhm?"

"I-I'm sorry," she apologized and then she let his arm go, the very sense of touching him caused an electric shock to pierce her soul.

Undoubtedly she...

"Come to my party, please ..." she dared to ask him.

"Your party?"

"For me it would be... very important... " she declared in a low voice, still unable to look into his eyes.

He did not understand Marron's words very well, but he was sure there was plenty of food.

"All right," he agreed with a big and boyish smile.

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Everything went very fast. Suddenly Whis and Beerus made an appearance at the Capsule Corporation where Goku, Vegeta and his wife were waiting for them. They did not understand well what the emergency was, but apparently it was a very big one because both Gods had previously contacted Bulma to tell her that they would come to look for Son Goku.

She took it upon herself to contact her friend. She had no idea why so much mystery, but she had realized that it was something very delicate.

"Hey, Lord Beerus!" Goku greeted animatedly.

"There's no time for this!" Beerus said, altered. "We must go," he urged, taking him by the arm.

"Wait a minute!" Bulma intervened. "I want to know what's going on," she demanded, arms crossed like a jar shape and a stern mien.

"I demand to know, too," Vegeta declared.

"That there is no time! We must take this idiot with Zeno-sama, everything depends on him, "he explained briefly.

But in reality the God of destruction's words did nothing but confuse Vegeta and Bulma.

"Explain yourself," she said.

"Please, Bulma, Vegeta, the matter is delicate, there's not much time to explain it well. I can only say that it's vitally important not only for this universe but for all of them," Whis said.

"Then I'll go, too," the scientist decided.

"Me too," the prince determined.

"Whatever! Whis, take us once or it may be too late."

"As you order, Lord Beerus."

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Nothing had been planned, nobody had actually summoned anyone. The great announcement was only reported to the angels, so Whis, as he knew it was a matter of utmost importance to the Earthlings of the planet Earth of the universe he was in charge of with Beerus, told his disciple. Then Beerus was altered and went in search of Son Goku.

And there they were: Whis, Beerus, Goku, Vegeta and Bulma.

"The Super Dragon Balls will be destroyed," Grand Minister announced, "and consequently, all the other Dragon Balls that have been created from the original ones will also cease to exist."

"WHAT?!" Goku, Vegeta and Bulma exclaimed.

"They are the orders of the two Grand Zenos," said the angel's father.

The three people looked at the Lords of Everything.

"Is that true?" Goku asked both Gods on the throne.

Beerus looked at the Saiyan as if complaining his disrespect, but, as many times, Goku ignored the God of Destruction's face.

"That's right," said one of the Zenos with a smile.

Both Gods looked at each other somewhat disoriented.

"Well... that..." babbled one of them.

The two became pensive.

"Grand Minister, why was it?" The Grand Zeno of the present asked.

"Because the desires of mortals can create imbalance not only in the universes but in other dimensions," he explained.

"That's right!" the two Zenos said in unison.

"But, Zenny, what if something happens on Earth? We have the Dragon Balls to solve many things."

"That is precisely the problem," The Grand Minister said. "You all depend a lot on the Dragon Balls, and because of that there have been abnormalities in the flow of time."

Vegeta, Bulma and Beerus, especially Beerus, sweated seas. Apparently, the Grand Minister and the Lords of Everything had found out about the changes in the past and the present caused by the creation of the time machine and the arrival of the Future Trunks.

"There was no choice, Zenny, there were people suffering. The Dragon Balls are very necessary."

Both Gods remained pensive.

"Really?" The Grand Zeno of the present said.

"Yes," Goku nodded.

"Excuse me, dear Grand Zeno, can't we solve it in another way?" Bulma tried to persuade him.

The prolonged undaunted expression of the Gods made Beerus, Bulma and Vegeta nervous.

"What do you say, Grand Minister?" the Zeno of the present consulted.

"We can put rules to limit certain wishes."

"What do you mean by rules?" the Saiyan prince spoke for first time.

"Not all wishes will be able to be fulfilled. For instance, in the event that a warrior from another universe wants to storm the Earth and kill the Earthlings, you can summon Shenrong using the Earth's Dragon Balls to revive them."

"What happens if the enemy is from another planet or the Earth itself?" Vegeta asked.

"In that case you're not allowed to use them. Each universe must take charge of its own conflicts. They will have to deal with the consequences caused by the beings of their own universe."

"And what happens if we don't obey and ask for a wish that is not within the rules?" the scientist asked.

"That won'tt happen, because if it happens we'll know it and the Dragons will be destroyed," he declared with a cold smile.

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She was surprised to see them arrive together. Not so much. She knew that at some point that it would happen —even if it was something incredible and crazy— the only thing she regretted about herself was not having imagined that it would be that day.

Flying: that's how they had arrived, that is to say that Mr. Goku had carried _her_ in his arms, and Bra knew it at the moment when the Saiyan's ki could manifest in the distance along with Marron's little ki, who she could only feel it when they were closer because Marron's was weaker.

When Bra could see them from the yard of the Capsule Corporation, dressed in an elegant and stunning turquoise dress, Marron clearly looked terrified by the heights, and Bra saw her clinging to the Saiyan's body with her face as red as a tomato. Marron had the expression of someone who is afraid, but who feels protected at the same time, and yes, certainly the birthday girl was not just literally flying through the skies.

As soon as they landed, Marron seemed to be in a very pleasant trance. She was embarrassed, but undoubtely happy. Surely that was the first time she had been so close to the Saiyan of her dreams. However, knowing her as Bra knew her, it was very likely that she would never stop feeling that way while being close to Mr. Goku.

Guests greeted her and wished her happy birthday. Marron looked the happiest woman —yes, woman— of the twelve universes. As for the Saiyan, he went straight to the banquet tables.

And after everyone congratulated the birthday girl, both friends finally met. Eighty percent of the time they were together, and the other twenty...

Both looked at each other, both looked at him, and both knew it.

Maybe it was time to be honest with themselves, to say out what they already knew inside.

"I'm in love with Mr. Goku," they said in unison. No one had ever been so in sync like them, no one had ever understood each other as much as they had, no one had ever been what the other was not and at the same time was: the other side of the coin, the other side of the essence.

And both smiled.

"Since when do you know it?" Marron asked.

"Since when do you know? Bra said.

It was impossible that they did not know something about each other.

"So we're both in love with the same idiot," Bulma's youngest daughter said.

"Don't call him like that," Marron snapped.

"He is," Bra said, arms crossed. Then she looked at him from the distance. He was eating a big pig's leg from the mountains, and she could not understand how something like that could captivate her to the point of feeling overwhelmed by feelings that she never thought would be born in herself. Being in love with someone like that was as incomprehensible as it was understandable in the same way that Saiyan was someone simple and complex at the same time. "But apparently we both like him the way he is," she smiled helplessly. Son Goku really had something that had inexorably fascinated both of them.

He was someone special.

Bra had to accept that he irritated her and bothered her in the same way that she loved him. It bothered her to be in love with someone like that, but she could not help it, and despite that she did not regret doing it, because Son Goku was Son Goku, and Marron and her knew it, both had fallen in love with the benevolent mystery that he represented: a pure soul, an incredible and wonderful child's soul.

Bra continued contemplating her father's eternal rival. She was sure that if Vegeta found out the truth one day, he would go crazy and everything would go to hell. But he did not have to know. The youngest of the Briefs would never tell him, nor to him, much less the man of her dreams. Anyway, it would be useless. Son Goku was someone too hard to cope with, even his dead wife was not able to cope with him. No, that was not exactly the thing... The truth was that nothing was about Bra or Goku.

It was about Marron.

"Hey, Bra, since when have you been...?

"Ever since," she said knowing the full question, "I mean, I only remember my mother telling me stories about him when I was a child, and then I remember the time he saved you from the water, I think that's when I really started to feel very strong things for him, not in the same way as now, but it was at that moment when it began. " she paused. "I remember that party very well because it was one of the most valuable memories I have in my memory. I knew that Son Gokú was special to me. I started to feel such incredible things in my chest every time I saw him and I thought about him that I thought I would explode. "she paused again. "Not long ago I realized what those feelings became now."

But Marron already knew it, she had always known it even if this was the first time her best friend confess her feelings.

"But only you have had the courage to approach him," Bra smiled at her. Go for him, Marron.

The blonde's eyes widened disproportionately.

She was shocked.

Although Marron could boast of being the one who knew more about Princess Brief, she did not expect that from her, because Bra always got what she wanted. She was strong, determined, imperious, capricious. She never accepted a no in response if she really wanted something, and Marron was sure that if that was the case Bra would not have let Son Goku get away from her either.

Nevertheless...

"By the way, happy birthday, Marron."

 **.**

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They had defeated the villain, that is what they had told her, that's why the party in the Capsule Corporation was so animated and so splendid. Bulma Brief did know how to performance parties, but for Marron it was somewhat uncomfortable to be surrounded by so many people and to be so noisy around.

Apparently the enemy of the Z warriors had been someone extremely powerful and they had not had so many problems since they faced opponents from other universes in the universal tournament years ago. The final battle had been ended up with the fusion of the two full Saiyans of the Earth: Mr. Gokú and Mr. Vegeta, and after an arduous battle, they finally won.

"Little Marron, how tall you've grown?" the owner of the Capsule Corporation marveled when she saw her. "How old are you now?" she asked.

"I'll be ten in two weeks," she said shyly.

"How fast time passes," Bulma smiled. "Why don't you go play with my daughter?"

"With Bra?"

"Yes, she turned six recently, do you remember?"

She remembered. Bulma had performanced a party almost as great and spectacular as the present day for her daughter, and had she gave her child a kind of throne made of gold and precious stones, not to mention the dazzling dress and crown Bra had on. Undoubtedly she looked like a real princess, well, according to all she was: the Saiyan princess. You could tell she had everything she wanted, and the parents, especially Mr. Vegeta, spoiled her a lot.

From her throne Marron had seen Bra greet everyone with a big smile, she looked splendid, confident, proud, wonderful, self confident. She had made all men, children and adults kiss her hand, and women to bow her. Of course, Marron had not approached Bra, because she seemed such an incredible child that she did not think the princess liked having her around. The truth was that Bra intimidated her with her greatness.

"I remember, but I don't know if it's a good idea" she answered.

"Hey? Why not?" Bulma inquired.

"Maybe Maybe I don't like her."

Bulma laughed amused.

"Oh, dear, my daughter doesn't bite. You may find that you two have more in common than you think and become great friends." she winked at her.

And after that she started looking for her. She did not know why, but suddenly she had wanted to meet her.

And she found her.

She was swimming in a swimming pool with other children. Apparently she liked to play the game of the Princess and her subjects, she as the princess, of course. The game was simple: the subjects had to obey her orders. Maybe if Marron approached and asked to be part of the game they would accept her, but there was a problem: she did not have a bathing suit. What a great detail. Anyway, what was she thinking? Maybe they would not even let her play.

"Hey, Goten, gimme a moment I'm going for my ball—"

And Marron fell.

Rather, they had pushed her.

Marron did not realize that she had reached the edge of the pool and from one moment to another she was seen falling into the water. Someone had made her end up like this.

"MARRON!" Trunks shouted.

Unintentionally he had run into her for talking to Goten who was in the pool. Trunks had just left the swimming pool to go for the ball that had ended up embedded in one of the tarts on the banquet table.

But that was the least important, the worst was not what Trunks had done but that Marron had fallen into the deep part of the swimming pool.

"Help!" She cried desperately.

Marron did not know how to swim.

A withering look from ChiChi could be more chilling and quicker than anything else. Goku did not need to look at her to feel an atrocious electricity on her back. He knew what that meant. She wanted him to act. And then before Marron herself finished screaming for help, he had already taken her out from the water. In the end he had been much faster than all the reactions of the people present, including that of Krillin, No 18, and even that of Trunks himself who was closest to the girl and who surely would to take her from there when his brain would finish sending the signal to his body to get her out from the water.

"You're out of the water," Goku announced with a smile.

Marron blinked and looked at whoever held her in his arms. She felt strange to be close to someone other than her mother or father, but after blinking a few more times, so incredulous that she did not understand what had just happened, she finally realized that she was out of danger. In addition, her parents, especially her father, said that Mr. Goku was someone incredible. And Marron understood that he had to be if he had managed to get her out of the water even before someone noticed it.

"Thank you very much," the girl thanked once her feet touched the ground.

"No problem," Goku smiled.

"That was incredible!" Bra said, who was now nearby: next to Marron and Goku.

"How did you do that?" the youngest asked Goku in wonder.

"Instant Transmission" the full Saiyan said.

"Awesome!"

She looked at the princess. She realized that this man had caused a great impact on her. She could not blame her. The truth that Marron was also fascinated.

"Hey, Marron..." Bra said.

Marron looked at her bewildered.

"Y-Yes?"

"Would you like to be my friend?"

"Hey?" she babbled, eyes wide open.

The sudden question had surprised her.

But she felt happy.

"Don't you?"

"Y-Yes, if you want," she said immediately.

It was impossible to say no to the princess.

"Great!" she said with a smile.

"We will be friends forever," Bra declared. "You heard, Marron, it's a promise. And we will always be together."

Marron felt happy.

Her first friend

"Repeat with me," the youngest said, "Together forever."

"T-Tog-gether fore-ever" she said timidly.

"Not that way," Bra snapped. "A friend of mine shouldn't hesitate, "I am Bra Brief, the powerful and unique Saiyan princess. If you want to be my friend you must be sel confident, " she said.

If she doubted it in any way —which was not the case— Marron really realized that Bra was an amazing and great person.

"Forever together," she said at last.

It was the moment when an unbreakable bond was formed.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

She woke up, took a quick shower and dressed for breakfast. She still enjoyed her sweet seventeen years, so she did not have as many obligations as her brother.

"Don't you think it's a little late to get up?" Trunks scolded her. "It's nine am, "he said.

Bra rolled her eyes. Again the same.

"So what?" Bra said while putting dulce de leche on a toast." My duty with mom starts at 're the one who is late"

"Today is my day off," he said.

"Good for you," Bra said without caring about her brother.

 _The criminal rate has gone up twenty-seven percent in the last year, criminals who were once only thieves went on to become unscrupulous murderers who..._

"Can't you look for something more depressing?" Bra said sarcastically. She did not like watching the news on television precisely because of that kind of information that happened almost all the time.

"It's important to be informed, Bra." he said while listening to the television. "You must be careful on the streets when you go shopping," Trunks warned.

Was it a joke? Who did he think she was?

"Do you know who you're talking to? Poor of the one who tries to rob me."

"Just be careful," Trunks said seriously.

"Whatever. I will go to see Marron," she announced, then grabbed a new bag that she was wearing for first time.

"Since you're going to see her tell her she's invited to go out with Goten and I tonight.

"Double date?"

"W-What the he—?"

Trunks was puzzled.

"I'm sorry, Trunks, neither Marron nor I are interested. I do not like Goten, and Marron doesn't like you."

A droplet appeared on the man's temple. Where had she gotten such nonsense? Goten was too old for her, and Trunks had never been interested in Marron in any other way than in a brotherly way.

"Don't say nonsense"

"So?" she blinked.

"Goten won a contest in which he raffled the first and the second year paying for courses to become a chef."

"Chef? I didn't know he liked cooking."

"I think he got it from Chichi. When she was alive she taught him many things, but he can only work with one title and this was a perfect opportunity for him." he explained.

"I'm happy for him," she said with a smile.

"Me too. Then will you tell her?"

"Sure, it's the perfect chance to release a dress that I bought. I'll lend Marron something."

"We won't go to a formal place. Whatever it's fine. Do not press her with that."

"Yeah, sure," she said, without paying attention. On her mind she was already thinking what shoes she would wear to combine. "I'm leaving, see you later."

And after that, she went to meet Marron. She should give her something she had chosen according to the tastes of her best friend.

"Why is this about?" Marron asked, bewildered. "It's not my birthday today."

"It doesn't have to be a special day to give you something, Marron," Bra said.

There was no more to say, if she did, she risked hurting Bra's pride, and Marron already knew that even though it was a present for her who was Bra's best friend, it was difficult for the Saiyan princess to be kind with other people...

"Thank you very much, Bra," Marron smiled. "These earrings are very beautiful."

"I know. I have good taste," she said, brushing a strand of hair back from her face with a wave of her hand. "If you didn't like it, it would be you the one with bad taste."

Marron laughed. Those gestures of Bra were very typical from her.

"We're going to have a drink with Pan, Goten and my brother today," she announced.

"Today?"

"Yeah, apparently Goten won a paid contest to study gastronomy and we will celebrate it."

"Really? Good, I'm very happy for Goten."

"Anyway, I'll lend you one of my dresses if you have nothing to wear."

"Actually, my mother bought me one dress two weeks ago."

Bra looked at her bewildered.

"For your birthday? How strange, No 18 had never given you anything."

"She said that not every day you're twenty-one."

"Well, it's ok. Go and find your dress, I can't go with you because I have a little encounter with Pan," she announced with a confident smile.

Marron's stomach clenched. Just today they had chosen to have their revenge? Something told her that Bra would not be in a good mood after that encounter.

"Again?"

"Again."

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

She destroyed the tree with a single kick. It had been too easy. So why could not she beat Pan? Occasionally both had a kind of combat. Most of the times it was Gohan's daughter who won, and when that happened Bra got too angry. She felt her pride was shattered, although maybe she should not complain so much. She had to admit that Pan was very strong and she spent all her time training, different from what Bra did in her free time: buy with Marron as a companion, or study and help her mother with some new inventions, again with Marron at her side, as she was also interested in certain things, but many times she did not understand what Bra and Bulma did. The time that the princess dedicated to martial arts was scarce, and her father did not support her at the time of training. Almost everything she knew was because of Trunks, but being Bulma's right hand he was now busier than ever and in his free time he liked to be with Goten.

"Stupid Pan!" Bra shouted. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! " she went on saying while threwing several ki balls everywhere.

She unleashed her fury that way until she heard a whimper in the bushes.

She almost forgot how to breathe when she realized what was happening.

How the hell she did not notice it? She did not notice the one who was hidden, watching her lose her composure and looking totally grotesque and furious, in a few words, looking totally unattractive.

Why did _he_ , of all the people in the world, have to be the one to see that painful show she had just given?

She felt embarrassed

"What the hell are you doing here ?!"

but he should not know.

She really wanted him away from her, and it was not as if she had to make much effort to achieve it, the thing was that when there was a fight or a special training, Son Goku was always present, those times were not many, but sometimes happened, not to mention when he fought against her father just for fun or because Vegeta wanted revange. Well, Bra actually had to admit that occasionally could not resist to see those fights with Marron. After all Marron and her were fascinated by those amazing battles: Marron just for the fact of seeing him and to understand more and more how fascinating he was, and Bra the same, but also with the hope of being able to learn something from observing both older Saiyans always. And now that she thought about it, Son Goku was precisely the cause that she lost her fight against Pan, whenever he appeared she lost concentration and ended up losing against Gohan's daughter.

"Hey, what a great battle, Bra," Goku said, "but I think you think too much about your next movement when fighting. You must let your body react on its own, "he advised. "I think you got that from Vegeta."He laughed amused. "Pan lets her body to guide her, and I think you were somewhat deconcentrated in the fight. When I arrived, I saw that that's why Pan got to hit you hard."

When he arrived? Of course it was like that. Bra had become deconcentrated the moment she saw him arrive. How the hell did he pretend that everything was the same with the presence of the person who stole her dreams observing every movement she made? What if she looked horrible? What if her hair was out of place?

"I won't let anyone to tell me what I have to do, not even you," she said.

"Not even me?" He blinked bewildered.

Bra frowned, crossed her arms and looked away haughtily.

Her cheeks had been tinged with a faint crimson tone.

"Don't feel proud of yourself. I just don't understand why everyone talks wonders about you and they have you on a pedestal. Don't think that for me you're special or something like that."

Goku blinked again. Bra felt like the most idiot being in the whole universe. She could not help her words nor her actions when she was close to that man. She acted out of herself.

She was getting more and more nervous.

"Now that I think... "he said, "It's strange that Marron doesn't be along with you and that she didn't see the fight you had against Pan, since you two are together most of their time."

"Yeah, but she went to her house to find a dress to go out tonight with Goten, my brother and Pan to celebrate."

"Oh, what do you celebrate?"

Bra raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you know? Aren't you aware that Goten won the contest to which he enrolled in gastronomy courses?"

"Gastronomy? What's that?"

She fell on her head. Did he like to eat and did not know what the Gastronomy was? How idiotic and inattentive could he be?

"Courses to learn to cook" she explained briefly.

"But Goten knows how to cook very well," he said with a big smile. "He learned it from Chichi They were very close, "he recalled nostalgically.

Bura glimpsed a flash of sadness in the laughing countenance of the Saiyan.

"Do you miss her?" She dared to ask.

It was strange and unusual to see the expression that Goku was showing at that moment. Actually, he did not look different from the one he always showed, only a slight change that it was almost imperceptible, but she could clearly distinguish it, and she knew that Marron would have noticed it too, because both had learned many things from Son Goku, they had learned to love his gestures, his expressions, his actions, his exploits, his clumsiness ... Bra and Marron were sure that they understood him perfectly in the same way that there was a wonderful and incredible mystery that always surrounded him.

And that's why they loved him.

The Saiyan's personality was extremely complex, not that he did not show himself as he was, not that he hide his sadness, it's just that he showed that affliction in his own way, a very peculiar way: he was sad, yes, remembering his deceased wife was painful because she was no longer with him even though in most of their marriage he had not really with her, at least not physically, maybe not mentally, but deep down, Goku had always kept her in mind, he had always loved her in a way that was difficult for others to understand. And in the way he had always loved her is that he did not revive her with the Dragon Balls when he still could. Goku had respected Chichi's last wish to let her go, because she had already completed her cycle and had been very happy.

Chichi was fine, wherever she was, only that Goku missed her all the time, even without thinking or being with her, because the way he loved her was incomprehensible, but real.

The silence that enveloped them suddenly became grim and uncomfortable by the passing of the eternal seconds. Bra felt guilty for asking something so delicate. Goku just smiled, he kept smiling as always, but it was not the same smile, it had become cryptic, strange, serene, too calm, like the enigmatic painting of a wonderful artist which someone could observe a lifetime trying to decipher what he wanted to express. And he also had his eyes fixed on hers, but actually he did not seem to be really seeing her. The truth was that Bra loved everything from Son Goku even the fear that caused her not to understand certain things about him, those that she understood and did not understand in a certain way.

"Listen..." she said. "I'm sorry for what I said," she apologized sincerely.

"Uhm?" He blinked, suddenly out of trance. "I'm sorry, I was thinking about what I'm going to eat today because Goten will go out to eat," He laughed and put his right hand on his nape. .

Bra fell on her head and a droplet appeared on her temple.

She felt a completely idiot when she heard him. He had made the great Bra Brief apologize to him. No one had achieved such a feat, except her mother when she forced her to do it when she got Trunks in trouble, but that was several years ago. Definitely did not count.

"So learn to cook on your own!" She shouted angrily.

Goku laughed again. Bra reminded him of Bulma when they first met.

"I can cook, but what I cook can't be compared to Goten's cook" he said.

He really irritated her.

"Whatever, now leave me alone. I've had enough of you," she said haughtily. "Don't think you have the right to advise me in fights just because you defeated a couple of powerful enemies in the past. My father could defeat you if he really gets angry so don't feel proud of yourself."

"I think so, too," he agreed. "I would like he fights against me bursting with anger one day"

Bra stared at him surprised by those words. Was he a suicide? Hell! And the most incredible, how that idiot guy still could make her loved him in such an intense way? She could not say exactly why, but she saw that an air of immeasurable solemnity enveloped him.

She turned around so he could not see her. Goku looked at her, bewildered for that action. Bra needed a moment with herself, needed he not to see her vulnerable, or what she thought made her look that way. Maybe she just did not dare to show another side of herself but the imperious and proud young girl she was.

And finally she smiled.

Again she was so captivated by him that she could barely contain herself. She did not think she could hold all those feelings and emotions for a long time. She felt that she was going to explode.

" _You're amazing, Son Goku, you really are..."_ she thought.

"If you knew how I feel about you..." she said in a voice almost inaudible, "but I can't have you..."

Goku heard her say something but could not hear. Probably she was just talking to herself, or thinking out loud.

"Would you want me to train you?" he proposed suddenly.

Bura was startled. What did he say?

"Train me?" she turned around again to face him. Her eyes wide open.

"Yeah," he said. "I think your dad doesn't."I think you really have a lot of potential."

Her heart trembled. For the first time the great Bra Brief felt real fear. What he was proposing to her was a great temptation. Would it be okay to give in just a little in that distance that she had created between Mr. Goku and herself to protect herself from the feelings she could barely control? Would it be okay if only she allowed herself the joy of spending a little time with him each day? But, if she accepted, could she bear to be close to him without wanting to embrace him or tell him everything that he provoked to her? Was Bra Brief strong enough to withstand that torture and happiness? How did Marron do it? After Bra encouraging her best friend to approach him and forge a relationship that eventually would led to something more than friends, after doing so, how is it that Bra could not let them be? Only the opportunity had presented itself and she was hesitating. How could she do it? Goku was not the problem, the problem was herself.

"I'll take your long silence as a yes," Goku said with a big boyish smile. "Come tomorrow at this time and we'll begin."

Bra could not say no.

Because all her insides said yes.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

They could never quite understand Shinobu Sensui, thought Itsuki. Sensui was a man the world did not deserve, too innocent, too naive. He had been like a spotless canvas stained by the caustic and corrosive blackness of human truth. And it all began when he witnessed the massacres and tortures that the members of the Black Black Club had committed: nothing more morbid, nothing more vile, nothing more deranged than that. The Black Black Club was a criminal syndicate comprised of a group of the wealthiest mob bosses, basically those who controlled the human world, those who had corrupted society, those who had made it their most accurate reflection.

After that, Shinobu learned of the existence of a video that was lying under the control of the Spirit World. It was a video that recorded every atrocity committed by humanity since the beginning of time: hours and hours of human abomination and filth. Sensui could not stand it, could not stand such dementia. His mind broke and his soul tore. In him six other personalities were born to try to cushion so much purulent madness.

Yes.

And after that Shinobu felt a deep guilt for killing the demons since his childhood, because he had always believed that they were the bad guys and the humans the good ones, as simple and as wrong as that. He did not know until much later that in fact the most aberrant creatures were his own species. After that, he rebelled against the humans and began to kill them. He was no longer the same, everything he was it was no longer in himself, all the justice that he always thought he possessed became a disfigured forgotten paradigm.

On the other hand, Itsuki was a creature of the Demon World, the world inhabited by demons, he was the faithful companion of Shinobu, and Shinobu was a human who had managed to captivate him deeply with his purity, and because of that, Itsuki had decided to be along with him and support him in whatever he wanted to do. And so he did, even when Yusuke Urameshi, the human whose blood came from one of the most powerful demons, was ordered to stop Shinobu and kill him if necessary.

The truth was that Shinobu had been relieved when Yusuke gave him that mortal blow in the Demon World: that was fine, yes, very good, because Yusuke Urameshi was descended from the demons that Shinobu had killed all his life.

He felt at peace.

Shinobu believed that in that way he could die dignifiedly, and Itsuki had taken him to another dimension so that his soul could not be judged in the Spirit World by King Enma. As Shinobu had wanted it.

But he did not die.

Yusuke had given him a blow that should have killed him shortly after, and if not, the terrible disease that had been detected several months ago had to do it, but it did not happen. They remained for a long time in that dark dimension, together, waiting for the inevitable. Itsuki had planned to commit suicide after the illness consumed Sensui. But it did not happen, it never happened. And who knows how long they had stayed in that dimension, and instead, Shinobu seemed to recover himself...

and strengthen.

And again the desire to kill returned.

They wanted to return to the dimension where the humans were, but they made a mistake. At first they had not realized it, but then they understood that this human dimension was different, there were other humans, a different culture.

The same filth.

Both proved that human nature was always going to be the same. Then they would find a way to return to the human dimension where they belonged to. There was no hurry. First they would be responsible for killing them all there.

"I don't fucking care your reasons!" the Saiyan prince shouted.

Yes, Shinobu glimpsed something different in the two guys who had suddenly appeared in front of him. That's why he felt that explaining his reasons could be worth it. But since he always knew it at himself, it was useless, especially for the other guy who was next to the smallest. He seemed confused and thoughtful.

He was one of those who could never understand the profound complexity of his reasons.

"I don't understand what you just said," Goku said for first time, "but you cann't kill innocent people.

Definitely the guy with strange hair had not understood anything at all.

Goku only understood that Shinobu Sensui did not belong this world nor this universe, he was from another dimension, and it was enough for Vegeta and Goku to be able to use the Dragon Balls to revive all those Shinobu and Itsuki had killed.

"On guard, damn insects!" Vegeta yelled.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

"You don't have to feel guilty anymore." Marron laughed amused. "That was a silly thing, I don't deny that it bothered me a lot, but you are just you, and actually I always loved you that way, you know that, "she said in the middle of the gloom.

That darkness did not disappear, it was everywhere and Marron could not do anything, only Bra could, but even in that infinite and cold opacity, still the blonde could shine with her own presence and grant warmth with her own smile. It was a magic that only she possessed. However...

Marron looked at Bra, and only seeing her in depth was enough to feel moved and sad, how hurt to see her with the spirit destroyed, so lacking in hope, even blaming herself for that tragedy that had nothing to do with her.

"It's not your fault..." she whispered.

The alarm clock rang and she opened her eyes. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, she was half sleepy and had many things to do that day so she had to get up, but for some reason she did not have the energy to do it. She just wanted to sleep a couple of hours more. she felt weak, almost sick, but she knew it was just lack of will, something strange because she had always been someone very active and energetic. Maybe it was partly because the day did not help much. Yes, it was a very dreary day, without color, with gray clouds cluttering the sky every day. Why? She no longer remembered how long the weather had been that way.

She wanted to see the blue mantle.

She wanted to see the sun.

She sat on the bed and remained static staring at the dull sky. Then she looked at the sleeping bag that the previous day was not used. Strange thing. In fact, these days were days of strangeness.

She put her hands to her head. She knew she had dreamed of Marron because she could remember an image of her laughing, that made Bra smile. She could not remember the rest of the dream, except for a darkness as endless as the universe itself, but that was all.

How she hated the darkness.

"Is she still angry?" she asked herself. "How can she still be angry with me?" she continued questioning herself.

Bra was very proud, she never gave in to anyone, but after Marron had not come to the Capsule Corporation or to see her training with Goku in the end she put aside that pride and sent texts to Marron's cell phone, but when she received no answer she called. Again no answer, and she ended up going to look for her at home. That was the strange thing, she had not found her there either, and as if it were not enough No 18 and Krillin were looking at her strangely, as if they did not know how to react to her once they saw her. Bra always knew that they were weird, but definitely on that occasion they had surpassed that concept. Marron's parents did not tell her where she was, or rather they did not want to. That was clear. There was no doubt:

Marron was avoiding her.

"We had to tell horror stories, yesterday" she thought nostalgically. "We never miss horror stories..."

She remembered the last time they had come together to tell horror stories. Marron and she still did those things despite the fact that they had already passed that age. It was like a tradition that could not be broken.

Marron was always scared of the stories that Bra told, even if they were just invented, and the blonde knew it, but there was something in the way the princess told them that could make even the roughest of them all shudder. However, in the last sleepover was Marron who got to scare Bra. Apparently she had put a lot of effort into the narrative because she really made that night go around in her bed without being able to sleep. However, more than the fear it was the strange and almost philosophical conversation they had after that story what scared her.

 _The Monkey's Paw_

The story was about a quiet family that lived in a village: the mother, the father and the son. One day a sergeant friend of the family who traveled around the world visited them and ended up telling them about a strange paw of a stuffed monkey that he had found in India and that it had the power to grant three wishes to his bearer. However, with every wish fulfilled a tragedy came with it, and so, everyone who had the monkey's paw suffered from a horrible fate to the point of wishing death.

The sergeant kept his stuffed paw because he had not been able to sell it and also to avoid a terrible end to the bearer. The father was attracted and intrigued by the terrifying object, and even with the sergeant's repeated warnings, the father insisted on having it.

Already with the paw in hand, the family decided to ask for the first wish without believing that actually it was fulfilled: to settle a mortgage debt that they had of the house. A short time later, they received the devastating and macabre news that the son had died in a terrible way in his work trapped by machinery that destroyed his body, and as compensation, the company gave the family two hundred pounds that was exactly the amount of money they owed the bank.

Deranged, the mother asked for the second wish: she wants her son to return to life despite the fact that her son's body had been left in a deplorable state. Then a knocking on the door was heard, then, scared to death with what possibly might be behind it, the father asked for the third wish in silence before the mother could open it. And the story ended in there: when opening the door, nobody was there.

After that story, and that Marron frightened Bra even more with some exaggerated gestures that at some other time had only made the princess laugh at the absurd, Marron had become unexpectedly serious in a way that disturbed Bra. Marron confessed that she was afraid to depend so much on the Dragon Balls, she was afraid of the consequences of using a power that belonged only to gods. She had already heard stories from her parents about time travel and horrible tragedies. Marron really feared those spheres, she was afraid of that dragon that came out of them. Fate was destiny, and if they were not able to handle it by themselves, it was not good to resort to other supernatural forces, because if a tragedy was avoided, perhaps a worse one could come later. And that was the first time that Bra had seen Marron so scared, as if she feared something would come for her. Even the blonde tried to convince the princess never to use those spheres.

"The way natural system works is an infinite complexity," Marron had said. "You can't play with that, Bra." And that was the last thing she said to her that night before going to sleep, accompanied by a disturbed look. The princess knew immediately that Marron had been brooding about this matter of desires and fate for a long time, and that story had served as a catalyst for all her concern and obsession. Bra knew it, could feel it in the blonde every time someone mentioned the Dragon Balls.

"Marron..." she whispered.

And suddenly she slapped her cheeks as if to wake up and stop thinking about things that made her melancholic. She stood up as if a bolt of energy had hit her without warning.

She forced herself to try to be the same as always.

She took her cell phone and dialed Marron's number ready to not be ignored. However, she did not get her to attend to her, so she left another voice message.

"I'm sorry, okay?" she said exasperatedly. "I shouldn't have said that your dress was horrible, I apologize deeply. I won't insult anything that your mother gives you again, okay? I think you've punished me enough, Marron, don't abuse this way of me, you know I don't give in to anyone else."

And after that Bra ended the voice message by pressing the button on the device until it shattered. Why did those things have to be so fragile? She would have to ask her mother to make for her a stronger one. When she got irritated, she was capable of destroying anything.

Just like her father.

Now that she remembered, the cloudy days began after that day when Trunks, Pan, Goten, Marron and she had to meet in a bar to celebrate the courses that Goten had won. But shortly before that, Marron had sent her a picture of her with the dress on for her opinion, and Bra made the great mistake of telling her that it was horrible and that it did not match at all with the earrings and shoes she wore. After that, Marron got very angry with her, which was really unusual from her. Bra always criticized the way Marron dressed and the cheesy colors she liked, but she had never bothered. However, it was not the same, that dress was not something that Marron had chosen, it was a precious present from her mother. Maybe even she did not really like her, but it was a valuable piece of clothing, and if there was one thing that Marron would never tolerate, it was that someone insulted something that a person she loved had given her. Bra knew it, so why had she been so clumsy about saying such hurtful words to her best friend?

That pride again.

And there were the consequences. The two of them had not been separated so long since they became best friends.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

"M-Marron?" Goku babbled when he saw her wearing the usual pink dress, the color that Marron liked the most.

She blinked in bewilderment. Usually Mr. Goku trained without giving much importance to her presence, and she always looked at him as far as she could: behind trees or bushes until he finished training. When he finished, it was that they could interact a bit, and those moments were what Marron most appreciated. No. She appreciated every moment that she only saw him and he allowed her to see him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Marron..." she whispered.

"Are you ok? You won't train today?"

There was a long silence. The Saiyan stared at her strangely, in his eyes there was something she could not decipher, but that she dared to think that it was a feeling of affliction.

"Actually, I was waiting for Bra."

That name caused the girl's chest to be oppressed. She had never been so far away from her best friend and had to admit that she missed her.

But she could not see her, something in herself told her that was impossible.

"I see," she said, looking away with an unusual, undaunted expression.

"Are you ok?" Goku asked.

She was not

"Yes," he said with a warm smile.

but she would be.

Meanwhile, Marron would not let those moments with him go to ruin because of her tribulations.

"Mr. Goku..." she said shyly. "I want to see you're bright, radiant smile," she asked, embarrassed.

"Uhm?"

"It's strange to see you down, that's not you," she declared.

"Tell me, Marron, what about Bra?" He said suddenly. "Don't you want to see her?"

And Marron's smile disappeared. She lowered her head and her fringe of hair covered her eyes. She was still, plunged into a sad and disturbing calm at the same time.

A muffled, mechanical voice emerged from her:

"I won't see her."

 _When Bra returns, Marron will leave._

The aura that she emitted was very different from the usual one.

"I'm going to make her suffer a little more for having insulted my dress" she declared with an unexpected, but genuine smile as she raised her eyes again, sad eyes, broken by the reason she still could not glimpse, but with immeasurable sweetness and tenderness as only Marron could show.

And he felt something, something as unknown as the universe itself. It was not something he could describe with words, he was not that kind of person, he simply felt from the deepest recesses of his entrails, followed his impulses without preventing them from happening, because he never saw anything wrong with them, or rather, not even he was thinking about them. And what did he feel like in those moments? The truth was that he was so lost with his own feelings that he was not sure, but it was something that overflowed with desires to do. Goku felt warm, clumsy, touched in some way and did not know if it was really that. He had set himself the goal of helping them both, but actually it seemed that the opposite was happening, it seemed that they were helping him discover something he had never experienced before.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

There were several occasions in which Bulma listened to Bra and Marron's conversations, sometimes for mere chance, sometimes for wanting to know or understand her daughter better, and that was because Marron was the closest person to the princess. The trust they had was amazing, even more amazing because of the fact that Bra was not someone who could easily trust another person, sometimes she talked to Trunks about certain things, mostly about training, sometimes she extorted him to fulfill some whim by threatening him; she would tell Vegeta that the times Trunks did not train was not because he had to do something important in the Capsule Corporation, but because he simply did not want to. The truth was that Trunks did not care too much to become strong. He only trained the necessary.

The point was that Bulma had always tried to be more aware of her children without invading them. With Trunks it was not complicated. With him it was always sitting down to talk and trying to help him when something happened to him, that was during his childhood, adolescence and even adulthood. With Bra it was different. When she was upset she did not bother to hide it and sent everyone to the hell. Approaching her in those moments was like turning on the dynamite wick, so everyone was careful with her, even Bulma. That's why it was complicated. When the princess was sad, she also expressed it, but she expressed it with an irritation even worse than usual, and that was added to the fact that she had no appetite and went alone to some secluded place at the same time that her ki disappeared. Almost always she went with Marron, the times she did not do it were scarce, but what always happened was that sooner or later she ended up telling her best friend what she had inside.

Bulma was always very grateful to Marron. She was the undisputed confidante of Bra, she was the one who best understood her, the one who best connected with the princess: the other part of her soul, of her essence. There was so much connection between them that it was almost a blessing.

Although everything always carries a good part and another... not so good.

Vegeta had also been an exemplary father, more for Bra during her childhood than for Trunks, because by the time the princess was born, he had already matured as a person, as a man, and above all, as a father. Bra was the prince's weakness, she was the apple of his eye but he did not like to admit it, and Bulma was always touched by the connection he had with his daughter. However, there were things that escaped him even though he was always aware of her, things he could not imagine, things that he could not understand, just understand. She did not blame him, even for Bulma it was very hard to do so, so much so that she had decided that she would hide _that_ from Vegeta, because for him, it would surely be like a death warrant.

Everything started when Bra was a child, when Bulma started telling her about the adventures she had had when she was a teenager. Undoubtedly these stories could be much more exciting than any fairy tale, and it is that her little girl did not even like them. As incredible and ironic as it seemed, Bra did not like princess tales, although she liked to be treated like one, and she was a princess, a real princess, a strong and imposing princess, who did not need of a prince who rescued her, because she conferred a new concept on what it was like to be a princess.

Bulma knew immediately that what most attracted Bra's attention was that funny and nice boy, that child who accompanied Bulma in her most spectacular adventures. Yes, Bra liked that boy. She had always been amazed by him, by the incredible things he did, and by how powerful he was. And Bulma always fed that rapturousness that the princess felt for him, and it is that there really were reasons to be, even though many times he had exasperated her, even as adults and already having their respective families.

And when Bra realized that child currently was a man, and at that point in grandfather, she always looked at him: watching him, admiring him for the feats she had heard in her mother's stories, and for the feats he still performed. She liked to say that when she stopped being a girl she would ask him to train her.

But it never happened.

She could never ask for it, because as a teenager another kind of feelings began to emerge in herself, and that was when Bra totally gave up the fantasy of being trained by the warrior of her favorite childhood stories. But it did not matter. Bra had Marron, her best friend, and if she had her, nothing else mattered. Bra knew that Marron felt just like she did about that warrior, so she decided she would not interfere, because she was sure that Marron deserved him more than she did.

And when Bulma found out, she was stunned. It had been something so obvious: admiration, longing, bright eyes dedicated only to that Saiyan warrior whenever she had the opportunity to see him. When Bra became a teenager those blue and deep glances had a glow that belonged only to Bulma's best friend. And the mother just fell silent. She kept it to herself as her daughter did, that discovery, that secret and ineffable love was not something that Bulma could change. That was her daughter's greatest secret: a pain and an unfulfilled longing deposited in the deepest recesses of her soul. And Bra only kept it for Marron, just for her.

But Bra was strong, Bulma knew it, and there was no doubt about it, because although the princess dwelled something so big and lacerating, she went ahead with her life. She loved him, yes, she loved him like nobody else, but Vegeta's daughter was an imposing soul, imperious and strong, capable of enduring and living with the pain of never even tried to win Goku's love.

Yes, Bra was really strong.

Worthy to be the Saiyan princess.

Worthy to be her father's daughter.

However, everything had changed now. The love that Bra had for Goku was no longer a secret, at least for whom should never have known. No. What was done was done, and Bulma thought it was the best. It only remained to accept, process, and understand that letting everything take its course without interfering in Bra's life more than necessary was the most prudent, and above all, the best for her.

Because she was broken from the deepest part of her soul, now.

"You were about to kill him!" Bulma reproached him. She knew that something like that could happen, but she did not think it would really happen."Don't you realize you're just making things worse? If Gohan did not take me immediately, it would have been too late."

"It's the least he deserves! Killing him is simply having mercy on that damn insect. Kakarott deserves the worst," he said with animosity and repudiation as he squeezed both fists. He wanted to leave Bulma and go to look for the other full Saiyan again to finish what he had started.

Bulma could almost read Vegeta's mind. She knew what he wanted to do and knew that if she could not calm him down the scene they had lived moments ago would be like a fairy tales in comparison to what her husband would do to Goku. It was evident that his corrosive fury was capable of making Vegeta strong enough to kill Goku.

"Listen to me, Vegeta, Goku did not even understand why you attacked him that way. You know how he is. There are things that he really doesn't understand. It was imposible that Goku realized what he caused to Bra."

Vegeta felt that he would end up tearing his own fist if the anger continued to consume himself in such an atrocious manner. Of course he knew what Bulma was telling him, after all he was the second person who knew him better than anyone. He knew how imbecile Kakarott was like, he knew that he was despicably idiotic and naive, and that was precisely what made him dangerous. He did not realize anything, and probably never would notice, but that did not change the fact that _the feelings_ were there.

"You don't understand..." Vegeta growled. You really don't...

Bulma clenched her fists and frowned.

"No, Vegeta, the one who doesn't understand is you. Bra isn't ok. You know it, right?

It was a joke? He knew the state of Bra better than anyone.

"So, you are giving up that fury that it isn't good for you and accept how things are. Goku makes Bra feel good. Bra needs to see him and train with him. Marron is no longer with her so Bra has no other way to relieve all that affliction she has. You must understand that there're things that are beyond our reach. As much as it hurts, Vegeta, we can't do much for our daughter.

He could not accept it. Bra was his daughter, and Vegeta was capable of doing anything for her, except to accept that madness. And Bulma could see it in her husband's eyes.

"Bra is in love with Goku," Bulma said, firm and direct.

And he opened his eyes widely and it was as if a cold steel spear pierced him without mercy.

"Stop being selfish and think more about her. What we think it's not important. No matter the prejudices or your pride. Here the only thing that matters is our daughter. And before you say anything else I'll tell you something, I support whatever the relationship that flourishes between Goku and Bra, even if it becomes romantic, I support whatever happens while she can accept and overcome her pain. And you have to accept that _he_ gives our daughter something that we can't, Vegeta. And I really trust that Goku is the only one who can truly help her," she said.

And that was it before Bulma left the bedroom they both shared, leaving a defeated Vegeta, trembling with rage and sadness.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

And she fell, fell to her knees in a stupor sick, silent, heartbreaking, light years away from the proud princess she was, because it was something that really had the power to destroy Bra. Yes. It was her, Marron, her best friend, her other half.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

Since the first time Goku had seen her, he thought about the little Saiyan as a potential warrior she would become when she got a proper age. However, he had always had his thoughts hidden of the Saiyan prince, because Vegeta did not want her to be a warrior. He just wanted Bra to grow up as a "normal" girl, which was strange, because with Trunks it was the opposite, and actually, when his son had grown up, he was not very interested in martial arts, but Vegeta was stubborn and insisted him on that, and that's why Trunks continued to train, although not as fervently as the Saiyan prince had preteded.

As Bra grew, Goku could see in her a hidden power, new, disproportionate, something that had sometimes said to Vegeta without sounding too interested in the matter, but the words of the prince were always completely negative when the tallest full Saiyan brought up the topic. Goku really thought it was a total waste not to train her, but he had to go by and miss the opportunity, at least until Bra really would decide to demand to be what her father did not want to. Undoubtedly that meant going against Vegeta and that was not an easy thing, although Goku always knew the princess tried to find the way to train herself, either with the help of his brother or by challenging Pan who was undoubtedly a worthy opponent of the princess. He knew that Vegeta was aware that his daughter was doing everything possible to access the slightest possibility of training, yes, she was stubborn, and the prince could not do anything about it, only to pretend that he did not know, that gave Goku hope. No. Goku really had the certainty that Bra, sooner or later, would become an exceptional warrior.

And finally the great opportunity presented itself to him, and Goku took it with selfish ease.

He saw the fight between Bra and Pan that day, and obviously her granddaughter had won, because she always had maintained a self-imposed training regimen. Goku really could not be more fascinated with her great progress. However, after that fight ended, he followed the angry princess, trying not to be noticed —although that was not difficult, because Bra was so angry that she had completely forgotten about her surrondings— and after a good while that she unloaded all her fury destroying trees and other vegetation, finally she noticed the presence of the old Saiyan with an evident surprise in the face.

It was at that moment when Goku made the proposal.

There was no response, but he knew that was what she wanted the most. He could see it clearly in her eyes whenever he looked at her, especially at that moment: Bra's eyes shone yearningly, something that became a certainty when the trainings began.

And she was incredible: strong, impetuous, devastating, implacable. She had never managed to defeat him, that made her furious and exasperated, and he liked her because that same fury made her even more determined to become stronger and to overcome him in some way. And as the days passed, Goku began to value more and more those moments of training. He really enjoyed that time. However, with that enjoyment, some guilt accompanied him. The truth was that from the first day Bra and him had started training, something had been lost and something else had come up.

He was confused, surprised, shocked... hurt?

Yes, the loss had been overwhelming.

 _One more._

Deep inside, deep down, Goku and Bra were destroyed: he had no other way of expressing it than fighting, because that was his way of solving everything, it was the way he expressed himself, in which he liberated everything he had inside: emotion, happiness, sadness, pain. Yes, it all came down to fighting. But Bra... she had another way of expressing the pain, in part she did it fighting, too, but there was something else, something much deeper, complex, delicate, disturbing, something that Goku had a hard time understanding and processing. Even so, he decided that little by little he would help her to be the same strong princess again without having to depend on Marron.

But... could he achieve it? Was he able to do it?

The image he glimpsed was so disfigured that he almost felt himself breaking along with the princess even though he kept his mien as when he saw her reach for him for answers and relief. That was not the Bra he knew, she was one that could only be shown in the purest and most heartbreaking despair. Was it right to take her out of her world? Forcing her out of it would really heal her? Goku was not sure, but he was sure that seeing her that way, so fragile and broken, was something he could not bear, to see her that way meant that Bra was truly damaged to the very last fiber of her being.

Would he be able to heal her?

"Is it you, right?" Goku asked after a long and deep silence, "Bra?"

He had to be sure.

She had turned off her mind for a long time, barely regaining consciousness of her sick state of catatonia —if that was how it could be said. The princess only heard the last thing that Goku had asked her: a logical question, but disturbing and almost at the same time deranged. However, Bra just wanted to know, she wanted to end that situation once and for all.

She wanted the truth.

"Where is Marron?" she asked suddenly, imperatively. The tone she used was one of extreme coldness and harshness in the midst of her engrossed madness, she was not only broken, no, the matter had gone beyond that point, now it was something much more terrifying, monstrous; suddenly, Bra had a silent and calm aura, on the verge of the unleashing of an insane fury, she would not give rise to anything other than a laconic response on the part of the full Saiyan.

She did not look at him, her eyes were fixed to the ground, still on her knees, like a broken doll. The blue lanterns were disturbingly wide open, voided and deranged. She was not going to repeat the question, and if Goku was not able to give her an answer, she would let out the real insanity and anger to which her soul and mind were subjected.

A drop of cold sweat went down Goku's temple, he was tense and cautious because he could imagine what would come. How many times had he imagined that situation? But not in that way. It was like a dream become nightmare, and maybe he had the power to stop it, but if he did it another nightmare would be born, and if so, he preferred to face what would come next: ready, prepared for the worst, not only for her, but also for him.

Because seeing her like that would not only be hell for the princess.

And so it happened.

From the overwhelming calm to the explosion of enormous power, it took less than a fraction of a second. Bra fulfilled the threat that her dangerous and frightening aura had warned when, unexpectedly, she rushed against her master with tremendous force in an avalanche of punches that although for Goku was not difficult to dodge, he was surprised at the speed and strength that his disciple had made known for the first time. That showed the true hidden potential that she kept inside herself and that she could still unravel. However, he did not like the way that discovery of power was taking place. No. The state of Bra was a delicate matter, she was not her, she was completely out of her mind, immersed in the morbid madness of which she was not aware. Her broken and hurt soul had made her mind fall apart. The only thing that guided her actions at those moments was a crazy and chilling instinct.

"Bra, wake up!" He said, "This is not you!"

What could he do? Until now, Goku was defending himself, avoiding the unbridled attacks of the princess. He did not want to hurt her.

"I don't want to fight this way with you. You have to wake up. This won't solve anything."

But no trace of consciousness could be seen in Bra's empty eyes. She just looked like a robot programmed to fight and destroy the anyone who be presented in front of her. And even in that way, the blows she launched were not clumsy at all, but on the contrary, they were precise and aimed to cause great damage to key areas of the body that not any warrior could resist without causing him a truly mortal damage.

" _Since when did she become so good?_ " Goku thought. He noticed that his opponent's speed increased more and more and he had to keep up with her.

" _What am I doing?"_ A recondite part of the implacable princess thought. she felt her soul floating in a dark and caliginous cloud. From time to time, she heard the voice of that man so important to her, but his voice could be heard far away and distorted. She was so confused and did not understand what was happening, but she felt him overwhelmed and even desperate.

 _"Why?"_ she asked herself, _"Why is he like that?"_ she continued inquiring. Her senses were still asleep, and they did not have much will to wake up, in fact, Bra wanted to sleep, she wanted that enormous martyrdom, the true and most visceral martyrdom, to be buried forever in the center and deepest place of her soul, where she had decided to bury it unconsciously.

"Bra!" He yelled.

And that caused her to recover some of that brightness in her opaque blue eyes.

"No..." the young girl whispered in a low, hurt, defeated voice. That monosyllable was impregnated with supplication. She did not want to return to herself. Because if she did it...

"Please... come back..." he implored, he could not keep seeing her like that.

And she did it.

It was totally unexpected. she did not know how, but that voice full of longing and anguish in its undertone moved something in her entrails, something crucial and sensitive, but only sensitive to him, to Goku. She understood that only for him she would have the strength and courage to face the ordeal of reality.

Bra's blue beacons recovered the shining of the sky that she always had, but these still were hurt and fearful because, somehow, she knew something horrible was waiting for her.

"Goku..." she murmured distressed, looking at him fixedly.

Her body took its toll when suddenly stopped the attacks that until recently had launched. She felt tired and weak, barely able to stand because she had been using a power which her body had not adapted and therefore she was not prepared to endure.

Goku was relieved. However, that sensation did not last long because Bra seemed to return to the beginning: she put her hands on her head trying to appease the pangs that appeared suddenly.

"Stop..." she begged the universe, the reality, "Stop..."

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

Trunks' eyes began to shed the first tears. It was extremely difficult for him to have to give that devastating news to everyone, but it was he who had received the call from his mother, therefore, who had to speak. The next who began to mourn was Goten. Pan was shocked, completely silent but distressed inside.

Bra was another story, she was the one who was worse, the most affected. Her pupils were reduced and her heart stopped dead, totally cold and mortally terrified.

It could not be true.

"What did you say?" Bra asked, grim.

Trunks looked at her alarmed, only something really serious was able to put her in that state of silent dementia and catonia, only something too deep as that was able to break her sanity, something totally horrible, and that had only happened once when she was just a infant in an episode as frightening as a kidnapping.

One day Bulma had taken Bra shopping, some bandits knew how to manage to find the princess of the Capsule Corporation. Only a little carelessness was enough for the little girl to disappear. She was only five years old at the time, and it was never known how they had managed to kidnap her, and as soon as those evil men had taken her, they took charge of calling the mother's cell phone to ask for a monetary reward.

Bulma was scared. Bra was a Saiyan, but that did not change the fact that she was still a child, and after the bandits demanded an exorbitant amount of money and gave her instructions on how they would receive it, Bulma wasted no time in telling Vegeta to locate her and rescue her while she distracted the bandits by making them think they were in control of the situation. Nothing further from reality.

Trunks had insisted on accompanying Vegeta to rescue Bra, and the Saiyan did not refuse because he did not have time to argue with him. The rescue was a success, but when they found her and entered that filthy deposit so far from the luxuries to which the princess was accustomed, what they saw both was totally unsettling.

The two men who had her were unconscious: one of them had blood coming out of his mouth and the other was just lying on the ground. They were not dead, only wounded. Vegeta wanted to kill them right there, but he was more worried about the strange state of his little girl who was standing between the two unconscious men. She was motionless, and silent with her eyes vacant and widely open. She was in shock. Immediately, the prince and the son took her to the Capsule Corporation and she was ckecked by a physician. Fortunately, they had not done anything twisted to her, only had a few scratches on her arms, which led them to infer that something truly horrible the bandits had tried to do with her, but before that happened Bra had reacted by knocking them and leaving them unconscious. It took one day for her to return to normal state, and she never remembered that terrible episode.

Trunks could never forget those eyes, they were chilling and disturbing.

The same ones she had now.

"Bra..."

"Repeat it," a chillingly mechanical voice demanded.

More tears came out of Trunks' eyes. Goten and Pan did not fully understand what was happening to Bra beyond the impact that the news had caused her.

"Marron, she... has..."

But before Trunks finished speaking something went on in the princess who quickly ran to the exit of the bar and activated her ki to take flight, no matter that the people who were close to her had seen her and were totally amazed by such a supernatural act.

On the other hand, Trunks, Goten and Pan were surprised and stunned by what had just happened. Goten looked at his best friend as saying "Aren't you going to go after her?" to which Trunks almost went to do it. However, the course of her sister's altered ki only indicated one direction: the Capsule Corporation, and Trunks could not imagine doing anything better than what the two people there could do for her when she arrived.

Bra flew towards her destination at a speed never before effected. Her eyes were still empty, but the sanity inside her struggled to emerge again in herself and that left her in a state of semi-unconsciousness. However, it was evident that she was not stable: the imbalance of her emotions was a corrosive mixture. She had in her soul the incredulity, the fear and the horror. A spasmodic chill had gripped her from the pit of her stomach and that feeling spread all over her body without mercy. She refused to believe what Trunks had said. That call had to be wrong, it could not be true. Bra knew that on that day her father and Goku had faced some imbecile with an air of supremacy who believed they had the right to kill the human race, as it had already happened many times several years ago. However, despite the fact that this villain managed to kill a large number of people, her mother had told her that they could revive them with the Dragon Balls because those guys were not of this dimension, besides, Goku and her father had managed to defeat them. It was impossible that they could not have done it. But what had happened in reality? It was possible that Marron...?

"How is it possible?"

There was a long and sepulchral silence on the part of those present, it could only be heard the voice of a journalist in the news that transmitted the plasma located in the center of the living room, but Bra ignored what was said on that device that she had never liked to listen.

Bulma's eyes were swollen and watery, she barely looked up to see her daughter. For the first time, the implacable woman did not know how to react. She brought the deepest of sorrows buried in her soul, that was another thing that made that unpleasant pincer that Bra had nailed inside her penetrated her even more.

It was not a good sign, but the princess refused to bend, refused to believe that something bad had happened to her other half.

"Say something!" the teenager shouted, beginning to lose control of her own countenance.

The fear grew.

Goku, who was strangely glum, remained standing next to his friend. He was the first to speak:

"I'm sorry, Bra..."

What had he said? What was it? No. That was not an answer. And it bothered her and it hurt her that Goku did not show up with that naive and cheerful clumsiness that he had.

She clenched her fists in exasperation.

"Why the hell do you feel sorry? I spoke with Marron a few hours ago. She had gone to change clothes to go out with Trunks, Goten, Pan and me. She was perfectly fine! We just thought she was late..." Her voice was beginning to tremble," she was mad at me because I insulted her dress... " she paused, trying to recover her composure, which was crumbling. "She can't be... What the hell happened?! The people are back. If Marron was..." she could not even say it without her heart pounding with pain "if she was killed by those bastards, how is it that she wasn't revived, too? They said that the rules that prohibit reviving people didn't apply this time because those villains were of another dimension."

Bulma lay in the chair, leaning forward with her head in her hands, trembling with sadness.

"They were..." the owner of the Capsule empire finlly said, "Shinobu Sensui and Itsuki came from another dimension that's why we were able to revive those they had killed.

The words of her mother only created more doubt and confusion in Bra's mind.

"But of what...?"

"Marron died two hours ago," Bulma annouced, finally with the strength to look the princess' eyes. "The same time we revived all the people killed by Shinobu and Itsuki."

"What do you mean?" she asked without understanding, but deep down, everything was falling into place with terrifying meaning.

"Marron was found lying on the street, bleeding..." Bulma swallowed saliva, "stabbed," she revealed.

Bra's eyes became voided again.

"It wasn't the guys from the other dimension who murdered her."

And suddenly, Bra's auditory sense was sharpened to its maximum capacity.

 _"The police chief personally took charge of catching the thief who mercilessly stabbed Marron when, on the way to meet her friends, she refused to give her earrings of pure gold that she had on her ears. Fortunately, with the help of witnesses, the murderer was identified and caught shortly after, now he is locked in the jail of Satan City, waiting for the trial scheduled for..."_

Until there she heard, the chief of the police, that was...

"Krillin caught him and he's asking for the maximum penalty," Bulma said.

Everything started spinning for the princess. The voices began to be heard as distant echoes and again she was automatically submerged in herself. Just minutes ago she was laughing and enjoying a fun and quiet night with her brother and her friends. Now she was surrounded by that hell of pure pain that quickly began to burn her insides. Yes, that was the last thing her mind could think about before she broke down completely and put out all traces of reason and sanity. Bra had replaced all that to become a machine free of humanity, only leaving a silent and mortally deranged fury.

And only Goku felt it, but he was not able to react in time to do something because Bra had disappeared in the blink, at an extraordinary speed.

An atrocious chill settled in the Saiyan's pit stomach. He knew immediately where Bra was going to and what she would do.

He went after her.

The infamous place, where the most vile scum was deposited as punishment by society governed by law, was not far from the Capsule Corporation, and with the incredible speed to which Bra was going, the Satan City jail was not long in coming, where, at a silent pace, she entered the lugubrious place no matter that several officers tried to stop her. With a few movements of the princess was enough to get them out of her way.

She cornered one of the guards who guarded the surroundings to force him to tell her where the prisoner she was looking for was. He did not know his name, but when she telling him who had been the victim, the terrified officer understood, because the news of Marron's murder had invaded all news channels and social networks.

The guard had no choice but to tell Bra what she wanted, because although she looked like a normal young girl, the eyes with which she had looked at him were not. She brought death with her, a bloody and deranged death. The man thanked not to be that murderer who would soon be the victim of something hideous.

Death would be like a present from heaven compared to what Bra was willing to do before ending his existence.

She soon found him. The guy slept peacefully regardless of all the fuss Bra had caused to find him. However, that tranquility did not last long when she took him by the neck with tremendous force to throw it against the screen.

The man was stunned because his head had been hit and blood was now coming out from it, and he spent a few seconds to understand what had just happened. He still could not understand why there was a teenager in front of him, or how she had been able to throw him against the wall. No. It was not normal. But little did he care, he understood immediately that this girl had something against him, probably because he had killed someone valuable to her. Yes, sure was that. He had murdered many women, and a couple of men just for fun, for wanting to prove he was strong and to fear. However, the most logical thing to do was to think that his last victim was the reason for that fury that he could undoubtedly feel in the girl.

The man smiled wickedly as he take out a knife from his back pocket. He knew that the one in front of him was not an ordinary person, but the life he had led since childhood did not let him to be impressed or frightened by what was happening.

He would kill her, there was no doubt about that.

Little did that thought last when he felt a deadly pain in his stomach. He could not know exactly what she had done, because Bra's movements were impossible to see because of her speed. And the murderer felt airless and was quickly stripped of his knife. He began to feel dread because the princess's eyes made him see that not only would she kill him, but before that she made him want not to be born, and what was more, that he had not even laid eyes on Marron.

"Marron..." Bra said in a dark and chilling voice. "Remember that name very well because what you did to her was the reason why you're going to feel the hell before I kill you."

She tried to measure her strength when began to hit him. She did not want him to die soon, but the pathetic screams of that scum did so on several occasions. She wanted to kill him once and for all. But no. Not yet. He still had not the permission to do it. What that damn thing had done to Marron could be never be paid, because Marron was the warmth of many people, and that bastard had stabbed her.

"K-ki... Kill m-me..." the murderer could barely babble.

The man was lying on the floor, covered in blood and with several broken bones.

No, it was not enough. It was not.

She raised her hand, ready to throw a ball of ki not too powerful for his body to burn slowly, and after that she would just let him die.

"Stop!"

Bra's attack had been diverted to the wall. Bra looked with disturbing fixity at the man who had suddenly appeared between her and the murderer.

Goku was shocked to see the deplorable state in which the princess had left the man.

"Get away," It was the only thing she told him. Her eyes warned him that if he did not, she would not doubt going over him.

"I won't," he denied flatly. It felt strange. The longer he saw her, the more something inside him was broken. "This won't bring Marron back."

But Bra did not seem to hear Goku's words.

From her hand came an attack of ki directed towards Gokú, but, although it was a powerful attack, Goku could counteract it and make it disappear.

Bra knew that would happen, after all, even in that state of almost unconsciousness, she knew that she could never win against Goku even if she used all her power. However, Bra's goal was achieved when she gained enough time to pass him and get to where the damn murderer was. She could not torture him anymore, but she could break his neck with a simple movement and end his life.

She failed.

"Marron wouldn't want this," Goku said to her ear as he held her arms firmly, preventing her from committing the act she would later regret terribly. He could be faster than whatever she did, and that was what led him to get behind her and stop her in time.

And for the first time since Bra had learned of the tragedy, a glimmer of melancholy bright was showed in her eyes. She had Goku very close, holding her to save her from herself, to avoid another tragedy, and the words that he had told her penetrated deep inside her with an overwhelming power. Nothing else that he would have said would have such an effect on her. Goku had evoked the essence of Marron in simple words, and that destroyed her again, but it made her enter a heartrending reason and lucidity.

There was truth in those words.

Saving that damn murderer that had taken Marron's life was never Goku's intention, he and even Krillin and No 18 wanted to do justice by their own hand, but that was not justice, but revenge, something horrible that had been about to consume them, even at that moment. So is. Goku almost did not interfere, he was blinded by the desire to want him dead for a moment —like when Zamasu revealed that he had killed ChiChi in an alternate dimension— but at the last moment he did it. Krillin, No 18 and he put Marron before anything. Yes. She would never have wanted them to become what that man was. Neither them nor anyone.

And the tears fell.

Afflicted, with the pain venting outside, as when the poison of a poisonous animal is removed from a bite, Bra dropped to the ground screaming and crying without stopping, clutching Goku's clothes, who could not help but let her freed herself from all those feelings that had been making her sick inside.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

"Bra?" He said alarmed.

She felt Goku's voice distant, as if she had cotton in her ears, while the maelstrom of heartrending memories of what her conscience had chosen to forget swept her mind in an ineluctable wave of rage, pain and dismay. Once again, the princess's blues eyes went mad. Her sanity was eradicated by the irrepressible images that never ceased to repeat themselves again and again like a crazy and obsessive whirlwind. And those sensations got her cold of pain: her heart crackling, her body trembling.

"It was my fault..." she whispered in a tremulous voice. "Marron died because of me..."

Yes. She should not have left her alone that day, she should have accompanied her to her house instead of going to fight Pan —Bra knew she was going to lose against her! Why the heck she left her best friend alone?! Why the heck had she left her alone if they were always together?!— and what was more: she should not had given her those earrings of pure gold and diamonds. Marron did not like the ostentatious and expensive presents, but Bra insisted and because of her, now she was dead.

Once again, she could not deal with her own conscience, she could not deal with her own fault, she could not deal with the truth.

 _Together forever._

And again, another scream came from the center of her soul, and with it, a sudden burst of ki was unleashed: so strong, so powerful that the whole place trembled and the earth began to crack and then to break. That power was so devastating that Goku could barely resist the overwhelming pressure that suffocated his body to a level never before felt.

 _Vegeta's daughter._

At first he could not help but be amazed, for that power was so much greater than the one Bra had made known before. However, the more he saw her, the more that colossal power grew, Goku finally realized with horror what Bra was trying to do. That was; she was not ready to manifest a ki of that magnitude, and yet she kept increasing it more and more, ignoring the terrible pressure on her body.

"She's..." he whispered, eyes widely opened with his pupils reduced and a terrible fear in his entrails.

Nothing mattered anymore: not that her body was being ripped apart, or that her blood was boiling as it had never done before, or that her heart was beating so frenetically that it would soon collapse. No. She would raise her ki to infinity, until the whole web of her veins exploded, she would make her own flesh the stigma of her guilt, of her punishment.

She would amend Marron's death with hers.

 _Death by death._

And Goku reacted. Actually, he did not think about anything, like most times he acted. He let himself be driven once more by his impulses, by what his body wanted, but actually, he did not know that this time there was something else inside him, deep inside, in the most recondite, that had made him act, but that he did not understand, and maybe he never would. However, that was enough to do what he was doing.

Being with her.

That power burned him. If he were not he, he would never have been able to take a step towards her without being consumed by the aura that surrounded her, but he had succeeded: he was in front of her. Very close. And amidst the bestial cries that Bra shouted, Goku not only saw the wild and furious look similar to that of the Ozaru beast in the princess' eyes, but saw the desperate, sad and vulnerable eyes of a child, of someone that only wanted the pain to vanish and that had not found another way out other than that: the one that would soon be consummated if she continued in that way.

Goku once again felt an startling sensation in his chest that he could not stand. The only thought he had now was to stop that frightening power that was killing her, because not only did she hurt herself, but she could soon end with all her surrondings, even the Earth itself.

"Bra!" he shouted.

And then he punched his fist in the princess's stomach, letting the force exerted make its effect.

It worked.

Not as he expected it. But the main objective had been fulfilled.

Bra coughed a large gulp of blood almost at the same time that the gust of power that surrounded her suddenly cut off. A blow with that force must have fainted her instantly, but it did not happen, and that surprised Goku again.

He really wished that she would lose consciousness before seeing what was happening now: again the tears made an appearance in the princess. Her face was invaded by that warm liquid of affliction, of resignation. She was barely standing, conscious, with the pain of the punch burning her insides and the pain of the heart consuming her. She could not resist anymore. How to do it if her tribulations were unspeakable? How to move forward now that she knew everything? How to continue without Marron?

Relief: this is what she wanted, what she needed.

"G-Gok-ku..." she whispered.

And something spilled.

And the sun came out.

Goku felt something beyond his imagination. He did not understand it, it was strange, even more than what he had been feeling for the last time. Could it be possible? It was. Inside, deep inside, a seed had sprouted, beautiful, strong, but delicate. And he was static, with his eyes wide open and his pupils dilated. He could not react. And how to do it? He would be an easy prey to knock down in those moments. If Bra wanted, she could kill him in those moments.

Maybe she had already done it.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

She landed in the forest in the usual place. She could not deny that nerves were eating her inside, but simply not attending the trainings was not a choice. In addition, doing so would cause anxiety to increase within her, not to mention that it would be like an act of cowardice.

Goku was doing stretching. As soon as he saw her, he dedicated the usual and boyish smile he was accustumed to do. After that, he seemed to look at her closely, scrutinizing her to make sure he did not get confused, but actually the princess's turquoise dress must have been enough for him to know who was the one in front of him.

"Marron won't be back," said Bra.

The full Saiyan was surprised to hear that. He knew that she already knew the truth. He took a few steps towards her and when he got closer he saw that she was sad, but with eyes full of peace and tranquility, and he understood that what she had said was a fact.

"And how are you?" He asked.

"I'm fine, I suppose. My mother said that in these days everything was normal."

"I am glad to hear that."

There was a strange silence. Bra had two things inside her that she wanted to free, that she wanted to know:

"I want you to tell me about _that_ day."

She felt free to speak to him more closely, especially for the second she wanted to know and that then she would ask him.

"Umh?" he blinked.

"The first day of training." she clarified.

She looked at him fixedly, demanding, hard, determined.

"The first day..." he whispered. "It was strange." He laughed amused. I didn't understand what happened to you until I was able to process it."

Another silence

"Bulma was the one who ended up clarifying me everything."

"Tell me," he demanded.

"Uhm..."

He scratched his head, weighing the words he could use to begin with.

"I think I understand what you want to know, Bra, but that didn't start with the first day of training but before."

The princess looked at him bewildered.

"What do you mean?"

"It was after you tried to kill Marron's killer."

Bra did not understand what he was saying.

"You see," Goku continued, "you should know that Marron came to visit me when I was training. Well, that's what you did. It was really very confusing for me to see you with Marron's clothes. I've never seen you wear pink, and less than less a dress. And it was as if Marron's death and the fact that you wanted to kill his murderer would never have happened. Your personality was very different when you spoke. I didn't realize immediately, but you behaved like her, you talked and did the same gestures as Marron. I remember that day I almost didn't say anything, and for some reason I felt that I shouldn't ask you why you behaved like that. Later you came back, this time as yourself, with your usual turquoise clothes, but Marron's death was still as if it had never happened for you. I think I've never been so confused in all my life," he laughed with a hand on his nape, "During the training you were yourself, demanding, energetic and boisterous."

Bra listened carefully to Goku's words. Little she remembered the first day of training, and what she had said to him when she presented herself as Marron. She remembered it as small parts of a dream reflected in the water. The only thing she remembered very well was the anguish she felt when she no longer saw Marron and when she called her cell phone without receiving an answer, or the times she had gone to look for Marron at her home only to find Krillin and No 18. Bra wanted to look for answers when nothing or nobody gave her, when Marron did not appear anywhere. Now that she was thinking about it, how many times did she go to see them being Marron? How much would she have made them suffer while they followed that twisted game of identities for her mental health?

Everything fell in its place.

"Then Bulma told me what was really going on," he paused, trying to remember what her best friend had told him. "Apparently a doctor," he said since he could not remember the word psychiatrist," said that you had... it was a..."

"Diagnosis," she clarified.

"Exactly! You lost the memory of what happened with Marron because of how terrible it was for you and you assumed to be her without realizing it, but when you returned to being yourself you didn't remember it and you missed her because you thought she didn't want to see you."

She remembered that.

"Apparently the doctor who attended you said that the best thing was that you remember everything by yourself. No one should tell you what really happened because it could have been very bad for you."

"It was," she said.

"Oh, cheer up! The worst is over," Goku said with a smile.

But it still hurt.

"The most important is that you're better now," he said, looking up at the blue sky, "The sun has finally come out."

"Yes," she nodded. "And that imposter won't come back."

Goku blinked. He looked at her again. Undoubtedly she was much better, but there were still sequels of pain in her. He did not know how he could know, but as he had been able to feel things in Marron, he could also feel things in Bra.

"You weren't an imposter," the full Saiyan said.

Bra looked at him without understanding.

"What?"

"Marron was part of you, and you were part of her. You two were like one, like _a whole_. Like the other side of the same coin. In fact I always felt you two very similar even if you two had different personalities, it was as if one showed what the other kept. That's why you two were friends, right?

The princess was perplexed, shocked. How could someone understand them so well? Once again, even if she said herself that she knew him better than anyone, Son Goku surprised her once again with that almost mystical understanding that he was able to achieve.

"Maybe," she finally said in response.

"Of course!" Once again he showed her that crystalline and enigmatic smile while making Bra's soul shake.

"Thanks..." she whispered sincerely.

In other circumstances, Goku would not have heard that single word because of the low tone of her voice, but because of some magic that surrounded them he could do it. And a tingling filled his stomach.

For some time he had more appetite than usual, he thought.

"We're beginning to train?"

"Not yet," the princess said. "I have something more to ask you..."

Goku blinked.

"What?"

Bra's face suddenly went completely red.

"I want you to take charge of what happened the other day."

Goku looked at her confused. What had happened the other day? He scratched his head trying to remember it.

"Oh, yeah! I'll let you hit me in the stomach with all your strength."

A droplet appeared on the princess's temple, how could she even think he would remember it, or even understand it? She would definitely made him to remember it.

"Oh, yeah, I'll hit you, but not now but then. That's not what I meant."

"Oh no? So?"

Goku was really disoriented. Bra was still red, this time not of shame.

"What an idiot you are!" she shouted furiously.

Would she really have to say it in explicit words?

The forgetful expression of the full Saiyan was monumental.

"The kiss!" she said finally.

"Oh, I see," he remembered finally.

That action had been a strange and new experience for him.

"So?" she said.

Goku was still confused.

"What about that? Do you want me to give you one?"

Actually for him it was illogical to kiss her, after all Goku had not asked for it. And why had Bra given it to him? Was it something that was done when you were about to lose consciousness? He had never heard of it or seen it. When Vegeta had hit him to the point of losing consciousness, he would never have thought about kissing him. Neither the previous times that the situation had been around.

Bra was steaming steam from her ears: from anger and shame. She inferred, because of Goku's expression, that he was thinking pure nonsense, but the truly meaning of a kiss. Still, she refused to leave the issue like that. No. If that kiss she gave him had have been just that, she would certainly have let Goku forget it and she would not even mention it, but there had been something in that action that gave the princess hopes.

"Damn it, you corresponded to me! Take charge!" she shouted.

And that got Goku out of his engrossment . What did she mean?

"I felt it," she continued. "You didn't get away from me. And even if it was because of the circumstances that you didn't do it, I know there was something else."

And Goku remembered the tingling. It was certainly something strange, even to him, that it was his stomach asking for food. When he was stressed —which was very rare, even if he felt weakness when he did not eat for a long time— he never was hungry. Besides, now that he thought about it better, the tingling was something different from when he needed to eat.

He did not know what to answer. Why did he suddenly feel nervous?

"Well..." Goku saids, "Honestly, Bra, I don't understand what are you saying, but tell me how I can correspond you and I'll do it so that we can train." he offered with affability.

That was it. She was sick.

"Fine," she said sharply, "Then I'll do whatever I want to you."

Goku blinked in his new facet of little understanding.

Then, he opened his eyes widely and the tingling came up to him again. Bra's kiss this time was not fleeting like the first one. She moved her lips awkwardly, but gently until she got what she wanted.

And he remembered the same feeling that he could not explain how he could have forgotten it. He understood that there was something in the princess that made him want to have her like this so long, and maybe he would hate to get away from her even to go to train the King Kai's planet. He thought that maybe he could take her with him when that happened, after all she was a Saiyan and very soon she could reach him if he was careless.

And he also understood something else:

Marron.

Bra finally moved away from him looking for air, still with her face scarlet, but happier than she had ever been in her life. She knew that she was reciprocated.

Even if he did not know it yet.

On the other hand, Goku felt strange, that action was still new, but it had not displeased him at all. What was that feeling called? And now what was coming?

"That was weird," he said.

Bra felt that she would faint right there.

"You're an asshole," she said, looking away, embarrassed.

He laughed funny.

"But I liked it," he said.

She winced at the same time that her heart took a sharp turn of real emotion.

"Maybe if I had kissed her, the same thing would have happened to me." He smiled at the sky again.

Bra opened her eyes widely. What had he just said?

"What...?" she whispered.

"I think I understand a little more the words that she told me once."

 _I like you._

"And I also understand a little more what you two mean to me."

Bra still could not believe what she was listening.

So...

"You..."

"Now can we train?"

Goku still did not understand it, and who knew if he could ever finish understanding it, or maybe he just always understood it with certainty inside himself in his own mysterious way. It did not matter, because Bra did understand.

And that was enough for her.

For both of them.

"Yes."

 **The end.**

 **Author's Notes: Holy shit! I could finish this monstrosity! HAHAHAHAHA Obviously this is a translation of the original one called** _ **Una**_ **in my anthology** _ **Rosa**_ **(chapter 4). It was dedicated to my dear friend** _ **Bri Jenkins Pendragon**_ **: absolutely amazing and sweet person who wrote a GoBra for me as my secret friend in Christmas.**

 **Ok, I have some things to say: first of all, the idea that Goten learned to cook thanks her mother is not mine but** _ **Son Pau's**_ **(my favorite writer of favorite writers :3). I asked permission to her to use her idea. Second, so sorry if this story is very heavy and confusing, specially because of the timeskips backward and forward, it is something I really like to do in some of my stories.**

 **Ok, i'm from Argentina, so maybe most of you don't know what dulce de leche is. It is a thick, milk-based caramel sauce. Sooo delicious and sweet!**

 **To conclude, I would like to thank a very special friend who has made me very happy these last weeks. Yeah, she is** _ **Rosebud on Royal Icing**_ **, a very VERY nice and sweet friend I made a few weeks ago :3. I strongly recommend her GoBras!**

 **So, I apologize for my grammar mistakes, errors, spelling, and the awkwards sentences you surely found XD. I can't help but think of my mother language first when translating, but I did my best and I'm really happy. If there are something it isn't undertood, please, don't be afraid of asking me.**

 **Thank you SO MUCH for reading! :3**

 **Anna Bradbury.**


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